coop

You will need them all, state, local, federal may just be called something else. coop

I agree it would not have any effect on federal level unless it is some how maybe connected to a felony conviction. I would be more concerned with local permitting as towns and counties also need to approve a liquor license for you. Coop

There are 50 states in the union, each one has different laws. When submitting for federal license it had to include a precise drawing showing everything including all sizes makes and models of all equipment. We did not deviate from those drawings up to and including bonded area and retail store area. The state license needed a federal license number for the application true. In that spot I just wrote in pending. The state knowing I could not produce a drop with out federal license just went ahead with the paper work on their own. The worse thing the state would do is deny application until federal permit was issued. Nothing for me to loose but time. The federal government and state government want you in business ASAP. The sooner you are producing the sooner they collect the taxes. They are your friends most trouble will come from local governments city or county. Coop

]Kent, we use a plain white wheat along with other grains here. coop

Sometimes even impressive will not do the trick. Most treat us like the plague. Bottle wholesalers are even worse unless you need to purchase 6000 bottles. coop

Called us too, yes I would be suspect of any unsolicited call to sell me something.

That is what we are doing but i just happen to have 10 gallons of the fluoride salts in liquid form and was thinking about using it up. Do not want to just waste it. Coop

Has any one ever used a Fluoride Salt solution to clean their stills. We have a CIP system and are using Sodium Hydroxide right now and am not sure what the difference is between the two. The fluoride salt solution is used to deep clean concrete. Thanks, Coop

Our laws have always allowed tastings and tours of our products only. Our hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 till 4. Closed on Sunday and Monday. Very small town 2000 population. Sales through store here is between 6 to 7 thousand a month. We do not charge for tastings. Coop

How low are your readings? When you distill it what quantities and proof are you getting? Coop

Every single cost you encounter will be reflected in the cost per bottle. If it cost you $100,000.00 a year to keep your door open and pay for everything, taxes, insurance, rent, utilities, property taxes, along with personal property taxes which is based on the total cost of any and all equipment purchases everything you can think of including licenses which are paid yearly. The more you produce and sell of course the price per bottle will come down. but the first years production, marketing, labor and everything you can think of counts. I think you will be looking at around 12 to 13 bucks per bottle as a net cost. Volume will decrease this amount but then you will hope to start making a profit and begin to pay yourself and income. Do not sell your product to low. It will be harder to raise your price than to lower it. Coop

Ok here it is, Shurflo model 2088-343-435, 3 GPM, 12VDC, 5 AMP @ 45 PSI. Coop

I will be at work tomorrow and post the information. Coop

We use a simple 12V Diaphram type and have been pumping 194 proof for over a year. It is rated for alcohol and fuel. Coop

Forgot to list this, he no doubt is using the list of distillers from the ADI home page site. Coop

Got our letter yesterday, we do sell shirts and hats but none for him. Coop

We at Colorado Gold Distillery looked at the same thing, reproducing the old tax stamp to place over our closers. After talking with our customers, (Liquor Stores) we decided against it. They hated them, they were falling off in the boxes and they had to replace them and try to glue them on. Coop

Jill, here at Colorado Gold Distillery we use a synthetic cork for all our products, Vodka, Gin, Whiskey. The reason we went with one kind of cork is simple, one size fits all our bottles. The other reason is if you are bottling at say 40% ABV that means that about 60% is water. Our selves and customers like to put the Vodka and Gin in the freezer. It can and will freeze if the freezer is cold enough. When the alcohol evaporates from real cork it will have water trapped in it and it will freeze to the bottle. When you try to remove the cork it may and will at times break off. You do not want cork particles floating around in your spirits. It does absolutely no harm to the product but the public will wonder just what is floating around in it and the unknolagable ones will bring it back and may never purchase it again. Coop

On a additional note, if you are counting on local or even state wide support of a locally distilled and bottled product you will find out as soon as people start reading the label, which they will, and find out you are miss leading them your sales will go south. That has happened to several companies here in Colorado. The label is required to have on it somewhere "Distilled by and Bottled by". Coop

I would not do it. If you have a still why not use it? Coop

May just be that for the last 35 years. I have lived here in Cedaredge worked as a General Contractor my wife took her first teaching job here and retired here after 30 years. Small town with a voting population on about 1200. We used all local help to remodel for the distillery and had a local boy who was a student of my wife as was his wife build all our tanks and mash kettle. Nothing beats using locals for everything possible. The town gave us just about whatever we needed. Think local and the rest will come. I feel for all the ones trying to do things with in large municipalities. We even did not have to purchase a liquor license from the town for our tasting room or sales room. Their answer was if the State and the Feds say your ok then so do we. Coop

I would like to add a few things that I have done. We are also a Colorado Distillery, west slope while Denver D is on the east slope. I designed and built my own mash kettle. It is a dual and direct injection by steam. Our water is just about the same temp as Denver. All water lines are in the ground and piped to someplace inside the building. The ground its self will hold a pretty constant temp as water lines are deep enough so as to keep them from freezing. The kettle holds 220 gallons of water with room for all the added grains. During the cooking process which takes only about 1 1\2 hours 30 gallons of water is added to the mash from the steam. That comes to about .33 gallons per min which flows very slowly into the boiler. The feeder line to the boiler is about 10' long and runs just above and across the top of the boiler. The water is plenty warm enough so as not to hurt the cast iron exchanger within the boiler. My mash run times are within minutes of each other, winter summer spring or fall. Our boiler is subject to a yearly inspection by the State of Colorado and they do not care weather you us a condensate return system or not. However some local towns and cities like Denver may have their own requirements. Now this is in the form of a question. Enzymes, if you cook your mash to a temperature that will cook the starches out of the grain, then would this not kill any active enzymes that may be present?? After we cook and hold temperature long enough to get the starch out we then add water to cool down the mash to a temperature that will support the enzymes with out killing them. We then add fresh malted barley to convert starch to sugar and wa la. At this point we cool down further to transfer and add yeast. This is done through a 1" jacket around the kettle and by using a tank of water which is recycled over and over and over. The 450 gallon tank has had the same water in it for about 9 months. No wasted water and no further expense for cooling the mash. You said "you will loose a ton of DP from direct injection". What is DP? Just wondering, Coop, 5.5 hours west of Denver.

Here is what we do at Colorado Gold Distillery in Cedaredge Colorado. 1. First we purchase all our grains from the local farmers, cheaper than local co-op. 2.We give a certain amount to the local 4-h, or FFA to help the kids in return we have a young girl who is raising livestock come to the distillery for 4 hours a week to work for us in return for the feed. 3. We sell all the balance of the grains back to the farmers for feed at a cost of 70% below market price. They frunish the containers to us, we fill them and load onto their trucks when the pick it up. WE all win. Coop

Thank you all for your help, Coop

Does anyone have a chart for sales comparison by volume of Vodka vs Gin vs Whiskey? Just wondering what sells the best and in what order. coop